The prestigious ski race "Tour de Ski" has approached its equator.
After the races in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, the competitors moved to Oberstdorf, Germany, which hosted the World Championship this year.
And on the last day of December, the skiers had 15 km mass starts for men and 10 km for women, which ended the first half of the Tour.
One of the main favorites of the competition, Alexander Bolshunov, had to go to the start on his 25th birthday.
In the past, he has won only one medal that day - a cut bronze in his first winning Tour de Ski.
This time, he could not be limited to third place, so as not to create problems for himself in the overall standings, where he was fourth, 44 seconds behind Johannes Klebo.
Participants of the Oberstdorf mass start were expected by a rather high-speed track with a short circle, on which it is very difficult to attack and create breaks.
The skiers covered several kilometers in a row in a large group, led by Bolshunov, Klebo and Ivan Yakimushkin.
The monotonous course of the race should have been slightly diluted with bonus points, which were played at the 4.4 km cutoff.
Bolshunov tried to accelerate, but the Norwegian reacted quickly to this and eventually passed the mark himself first.
Alexander had few opportunities for attack, but he could not come with Klebo to the finish line.
As a result, at the tenth kilometer of the distance, the Russian nevertheless decided to accelerate.
His leap was naturally supported by Klebo, as well as by his compatriots Sure Röthe, Didrik Tönset, Briton Andrew Musgrave, Swiss Dario Cologna and German Friedrich Moch.
Colonya, Moss and Tønset quickly fell behind, and only four remained to fight for medals. The situation on the track was a bit like what happened during the skiathlon at the World Championships. Then Bolshunov was opposed by five Norwegians, but now he was left with three rivals. But last time the athletes ran 30 km, and only the Russian had enough endurance to the end of the distance. Now each of the rivals was full of strength and could hold back the world champion while he was trying to accelerate on the rise.
1.6 km before the finish line, Musgrave tried to jerk, but nothing came of it.
But Klebo managed to come out ahead.
Due to the clean passage of the descent, he created a gap, which none of the pursuers could eliminate.
Bolshunov realized that the race was lost and switched to fighting for silver.
He handled Rythe and Musgrave easily and made himself a little birthday present.
In the overall standings of the Tour de Ski, the Russian climbed to third place.
The gap from Klebo increased to 47 seconds, but at the same time Alexander almost caught up with another Norwegian Paul Golberg.
Natalya Nepryaeva, who already took third place in the Lenzerheide races, could count on more in the women's mass start.
Since Yulia Stupak previously starred with the "Tour de Ski", Tatyana Sorina remained her only fellow traveler from among her compatriots.
At the beginning of the race, both Russians calmly walked in the leading group, from which, on the fourth kilometer, American Jessica Diggins, Swedish Ebba Andersson and Norwegian Heidi Veng briefly emerged.
Sorina led the pursuit and helped to close the gap, but she did not receive any gratitude from her rivals.
Soon, at a turn, the Swede Frida Karlsson collided with her, and then the Russian woman broke a stick and waited a long time for help from her husband and coach Yegor Sorin.
Diggins and Andersson led the race and began to split the peloton into several groups.
For Nepryaeva, there was a danger of staying in the second ten, but she shifted in time and overtook the leading skiers.
But the leader of "Tour de Ski" Kertt Niskanen from Finland did not succeed - from the middle of the distance she disappeared from the radar and stopped fighting for the yellow jersey.
On the last lap, ten skiers went into the lead, and two of them represented the Russian national team. Sorina tried to stay among the leaders, but Karlsson stumbled in front of her again and slowed down the pace. The skier managed to get out of this trap in time - it was time to take a comfortable position on the descent. The Swede broke ahead and staked out the first place. Diggins chased after her, and Sorina caught hold of the American.
Karlsson, due to sliding, created a small gap, which should have been enough to win, but Diggins and Sorina had a different opinion.
Together they overtook the Swede, and all three skiers rolled out to the finish line at the same time.
Diggins, as the Olympic champion in the team sprint, snatched first place and topped the overall Tour de Ski standings.
Karlsson finished second, while Sorina kept third from Andersson, who was advancing from behind.
The Russian woman has earned her first personal medal since the beginning of last season.
Nepryaeva finished eighth eight seconds after Diggins.
In the overall standings, she remained third, since Niskanen miraculously retained one second of the lead in relation to her.
Nepryaeva is 14 seconds behind Diggins, and Sorina, who has risen to fifth position, is 43 seconds behind the American.